BAKKEN/THREE FORKS SHALE EXPANDED CORE DELIVERING NEW PRODUCTION HIGHS AFTER EPIC WINTER

摘要

Having thawed out from a historically brutal and prolonged winter,the expanding fairway of the Bak-ken-Three Forks play is on pace to deliver record production,bolstered by a beefed-up infrastructure that has sunk differentials to low single digits.”In North Dakota,we fought a prolonged subzero temperatures period,including the coldest February since 1936,”said WPXEnergy Inc.President and CEO Clay Gaspar,who noted the company managed to keep wells producing,even as temperatures fell to-40°F across the Williston basin.One of the known casualties of the stubbornly bitter cold,which extended well into the first quarter,was Whiting Petroleum Corp.'s Redtail field,where wellhead freeze-offs cut quarterly production 16%,to an average 14,925 boed.Nevertheless,WPX,Whiting and their peers have rebounded nicely,with the U.S.Energy Information Administration(EIA) estimating that the Bakken,and underlying Three Forks,will separately or conjointly deliver more than 1.42 MMbopd in June,Fig.1.That would outstrip the previous high of just over 1.40 MMbpd produced in the North Dakota fairway last December,according to the state's Department of Mineral Resources(DMR).